BY NICK GIONGCO
After training behind closed doors for two months, John Riel Casimero has opted for a change in scenery in Las Vegas, where he hopes to strut his wares as boxing is gradually easing back into action.
“John Riel is back in the gym working out,” reported Sean Gibbons from Sin City.
Assisting Casimero, the reigning World Boxing Organization bantamweight king, are the fighter’s brother Jay and trainers Nonoy Neri and Ting Ariosa as well as strength coach Memo Heredia.
Casimero is being told to stay active so it will be easy to book him a fight in the next few months as Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum is leading the way in bringing boxing back in the US.
“There is no fixed date yet for us but we are getting ready,” said Gibbons.
“I was told about September,” he said.
Casimero was supposed to face Naoya Inoue last April but the coronavirus outbreak prompted the cancellation of the superfight.
With or without Inoue, Casimero wants to fight,” said Gibbons.
“He is a world champion and we can defend the title against a different guy then see if we can have the Inoue fight.”
Inoue is in Japan and there is no certainty when travel restrictions can be lifted to allow him to fly to the US.
However, Top Rank chief Bob Arum doesn’t have any intention of putting up a Casimero-Inoue slugfest without a live audience given the magnitude of the matchup and the immense popularity of Inoue.
Casimero has been in the US since mid-February. His first stop was Miami in Florida where he trained for over a month before setting up camp in Las Vegas.
Gibbons rented a house that has a swimming pool in Las Vegas that will serve as Casimero’s home while awaiting for the call to fight.
